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The Elcano Challenge : Ground-based circumnavigation


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Ok Fengist,

Here's my entry which should qualify me for Master Mariner. I had previously completed a Laythe water circumnavigation, this is my second Kerbin one- I cut across a continent on my first attempt. This attempt was water only, except for the land bridge. This is a completely stock game, as always.

'Amphib3c-K' is nearly identical to the vessel I used on Laythe, with a few small changes. Basically took some stuff off that I didn't need. I did lower the drill, but evidently not enough, because I still had to retract the landing gear to get to the ore. Yes, it still has wings and a rudder. No, it is in no way suitable for flight of any sort, or even tiny jumps off hills. I did briefly get THREE of the wheels off the ground at the same time without exploding, but that's as far as I pushed it. See the photos at the end of my Laythe entry for demonstration of how this thing handles air under the wheels..

Estimated a max range on this one at 750km. I did have one leg of 725km (between waypoints 4&5), and had a little fuel in the tanks at the end of it. It goes about 70m/s out of the chocks, sometimes reaching 76m/s. Most importantly, I was able to use 4X warp while sailing, once I burned off a little fuel.

As much as I miss my rover wheels, this thing actually held up fairly well on the land bridge. Kept the speed under 30m/s on land, and went much much slower crossing hills, worked out pretty well.

I'll add some notes to the Imgur album tonight.

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Edited by RexKramer
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PtV6EQF.png

Could I use this fro my circumnavigation? The wheels came with the delorean (larger crash tolerance), the engine gets it up to about 70 m/s safely, and that wing is there for downforce, not upforce. I haven't seen that used much before, and it's very helpful. I am using karbonite to refuel.

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This is pretty much "anything goes" ( have you seen what idiocy I used? active wings & all ) as long as it stays on the surface most of the time. I'd say that's fine as long as it doesn't warp :P ( also, 39.3m/s is the limit, eh? )

Talking of which, I've managed to load a save - I've no idea how I got where I am, although there is a screenshot trail at least. I remember looking forward to charging down what looked like a twisty river canyon from the air, only to find it was mostly lumpy ground :( now I have to get time to keep going.

Edited by Van Disaster
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Hello Fengist

Minmus completed.

I completed my first round trip, I started on Kerbin earlier (and they're almost at the finish) but did this one because I needed a break.

This was the first test of the new LRM1. After modifications it's now probably ready for all the other moons and planets, except Laythe.

If requested I can include a full report but it was rather uneventful, broke 2 wheels total. I tried to brake but jumped off a huge cliff a few clicks before finish, resulting in a fender bender. Average speed is probably 18 m/s with a sustained high of 45 m/s on the great flats. Didn't need to refuel. Screenshots show coordinates and times.

Mod used: Mechjeb. The rover autopilot with stabilizer is really perfect on low grav worlds. The only other mod is Kerbpaint so that doesn't count.

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Edited by Azimech
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Hiya!

I'm planning a cuncumnavigation of Mun by rover. But I have a few concerns over my design.

First, the craft. It's very heavily based on the Rocketpilot753's rover design. My concern is that it may be too closely related and could be considered to be copying them. There's lots of differences but the main mechanisms for locomation are the same. If it's too close I'll go back to the drawing board.

Secondly, I use a good number of Ion thrusters. It could be argued that I could effectively fly over the surface with this many thrusters thus breaking the spirit of the challenge. Which is something I'd like to avoid. Personally, after a few tests I havn't been able to produce lots of airtime using the thrusters, and it doesnt fly. But off of the right slope, I can see where it it would catch decent airtime nonetheless. If it's too much I could reduce the number of thrusters or remove them completely to have a craft more in line with the intended idea of the challenge.

You can see images of my rover here. http://imgur.com/a/xHOba

Thanks in advance for weighing in.

Edited by Gahooligan
fixing typos/ had a part about hyperedit -- since redacted
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OK, I'm trying kill time until 1.0.5 comes out anyway, and I have a rover on Eve already... one of my best designs.

Right now she's exploring remotely, but she has 3 seats. If it needs to be manned, I see no real problem sending a crew out tomorrow.

I'm in.

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Fengist,

I have a question.

uPohqLU.png

As is obvious there was a tiny mishap in the handling of the rover. :P

I have a modded version of the rover that is basically the same, except for Ven's Stock Revamp and Adjustable Landing Gear. (And I think your Maritime Pack)

Can I replace the stock rover with the modded rover (after I fly it there) or must I continue using Stock versions?

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OK, I'm trying kill time until 1.0.5 comes out anyway, and I have a rover on Eve already... one of my best designs.

Right now she's exploring remotely, but she has 3 seats. If it needs to be manned, I see no real problem sending a crew out tomorrow.

I'm in.

I changed my mind... Not but entering, just about Eve.

I did the math quick to get Eve's circumference.... wow! I honestly don't want to drive that far, or strand anyone on Eve.

But after thinking about it, I realized something I haven't done yet in my career game is to find all the Easter Eggs on the Mun. Found most all the rest in the solar system, even the Dead Kraken. But the Mun I've only found the Armstrong memorial. There are 7 more I haven't seen.... yet.

So I'm gonna do my version of the Elcano challenge with a slight twist. Start at the Armstrong memorial (since I have a flag there already I can target to land), circumnavigate the Mun, and visit all the other Easter Egg sites along the way. I know more or less where the other ones are, and I think I can plot a route that will also satisify the challenge.

I'll keep a log.

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Oh dear. I think I need to go to Duna and do some off-roading.

Edit:

32 tonnes. Perfect. Packed with RTGs. Solar power is for wimps. http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318150203/80415392F97197073BCE4D3EC0F2DD96C477DFD6/

OK, maybe that was a bit heavy. Bill just blew up the launchpad. http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318153721/A70A7F27CE28E270B274ABDE3BD7765F916113CE/

And off to Duna, where we handily make orbit. Wait a minute ... we're going the wrong way. HANDBRAKE TURN!

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318169267/85B90C128BA1A9BDBFA6EDB17A512D85FC293082/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318170406/C4C43395E075AA13514D85DDD593C7AA36B6C433/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318171407/643065F6A415FD2E4A92D820B8A2419734E8C987/

Thanks, Ike!

This can only end well

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318172816/E64EB3FC716CCB5DA4135F1D115A75AADBB934F6/

Oh god it steers like a pig

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318176294/C3DE40589A06FABED86900C6701D30AFB1663B89/

After fixing the first full set of landing-induced flats, Bill "Mark Whatney" Kerbin raises a flag he'll be returning to - and turns his eyes north. (Actually I think he's looking southwest. He's an engineer, damn it, not a pilot. Give him a break.)

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353318181565/2F006B72B891602941080B68BFEA647CA002B393/

Now the work begins.

Log of Bill Kerbin, Day one: Made camp at an elevation of over 5000 meters in the most annoying mountains ever seen. The Agamemnon is rugged and reliable, but with a flat-terrain top safe speed of 15 m/s I'm afraid I may run out of snacks. I spent the first 50 kilometers burning off the left-over landing fuel by leaving one of the four engines running on its lowest setting. That got the rover's GVW to just under 20 tonnes. No noticeable performance improvement. Next time I'm making a dune buggy. I hope Jeb remembers to pick me up.

Climbing into the mountains as night sets in:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353322057463/71C2FA9426E75B8EFE417302691F5DC70102692D/

Progress!

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876353322059048/F039D1197B57DC63B87BA14A5A7AC1CD1DB3B561/

Log of Bill Kerbin, Day 2: Well, that was exciting. I need to change my spacesuit after descending from the 7,100-meter Bill's Pass to the northern midlands six kilometers below. Note to self - brakes next time. Dawn is breaking, but I'm tired. Camped in the edge of some lovely crisp Co2 snow. I wonder if I can make a snow-Kerbal?

How do you descend a 7000-meter mountain with no brakes? Ask an engineer!

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/648876514421114283/860FA924A6F1EC2A2130CCD551E33BFA49A56525/

Oh, dear. The Kraken visited so thoroughly it managed to blow up my Rover in a way that negated it from the save file. Relaunched a new rover and - same result. I may have to put his on hold until 1.05 (or probably just a reinstall) :( Poor Bill. Thankfully, he's alive in the alternate universe that arrived with a "start new sandbox" game. Sad, though, was 1/3 of the way around Duna.

Edited by Gojira1000
Kraken report
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OK, I sent my rover to the Mun today. I've had really good luck with these rovers, so hopefully she'll survive this. Val and the boys are currently in orbit in my flagship, and tomorrow I'll land them. Val, Bill and Bob will man the rover. Jeb will refuel, return to low orbit, and provide aerial recon.

Oh, everything is stock... this is going to be mod-free.

v0sKRPT.jpg

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9hsfanx.jpg

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ZlmE0Wq.jpg

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Hope this doesn't invalidate my three (stock) water entries- from this week's devnotes:

Now that the 1.0.5 update is getting closer we want to share a bit more information about it: Nathanael (NathanKell) has been one of the driving forces on 1.0.5, fixing countless bugs and implementing small quality of life improvements that had been on our radar for a long time, but that no one had the time to implement. Over the past few weeks for example, he’s been working on overhauling the buoyancy models for the game and as a result it is now feasible to build working boats or indeed seaplanes.

All that work. Looks like boats are going to be much less difficult in the near future.

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Oh, why is your rocket so big for such a small rover?

I wondered if someone would notice. The biggest reason is so I have extra fuel to burn doing a pinpoint landing. Also this asparagus setup doesn't see to want to flip.

I have just over 24 million in his career game, I don't mind spending the extra cash.

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I am feeling desperate right now. I cannot build a launcher stable enough with enough delta-v to make it and land on Tylo. I have a decent rover, but a part limit so little, I can't make a launcher big enough. Help?

-SPAddict

Plus, I have requested twice now at the Rocket Builders subforum, no solid answers.

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